Investors will look at global cues, coronavirus-related developments, and March quarter earnings for market direction in this yet another truncated week. The markets will remain shut tomorrow on account of Ambedkar Jayanti.
To begin with, Covid-19 remains the big focus for investors the world over. The disease has so far infected over 17.7 lakh people and caused at least one lakh deaths globally. In India, the confirmed coronavirus cases jumped to 9,205 and the death toll mounted to 331 so far, according to the Worldometer.
The 21-day lockdown imposed to cull the spread of the virus ends on April 14. And while India awaits a final decision on the likely extension of the lockdown, six states have already extended the lockdown till April 30. A formal announcement of a lockdown extension is likely to impact investor sentiments as it would mean virtually no business for most of the companies.
Besides, reports in the media said the government is working on a separate economic package for Indian businesses which might be announced in the next few days. The Centre is also said to be keen to restart economic activity in areas with a low incidence of Covid-19 cases.
In another development, the World Bank has scaled down India’s GDP growth projection to 1.5-2.8 per cent from the earlier 6.1 per cent for the current fiscal year, which would be the lowest economic expansion since the balance of payments crisis of 1991-92.
Investors will also track the March quarter earnings of various companies which will start pouring in from this week. Wipro will announce its quarterly and full year results on April 15, followed by TCS on April 16 and HDFC Bank on April 18.
In terms of marco data, CPI inflation for March will be released later in the day. Besides, WPI inflation for March will be announced on April 14 while the minutes of the monetary policy meeting held on March 27 will be released on April 17.
In commodities, oil jumped on Monday after major oil producers reached a deal for a record 10 million barrels per day output cut to support oil prices amid the pandemic. Consequently, Brent crude futures rose over 5 per cent to $33.19 a barrel early Monday.
HDFC will be in focus in today's session after the People's Bank of China increased its stake in the lending major to 1.01 per cent. The Chinese central bank held 17.5 million shares at the end of the March 2020 quarter, according to a regulatory disclosure by HDFC.
And, in the end, let's have a look at global cues for today's trade. The US Futures and Asian stocks were largely lower in Monday's early deals. Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's Kospi slipped over 0.5 per cent each. SGX Nifty was also down around 100 points, suggesting an open at around 9,000 levels for the Nifty today.
Read by: Kanishka Gupta
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